Mitt Romney Agitates Confederate Descendants

Sons of Confederate Veterans leader Christopher M. Sullivan issued the following statement in response to the CNN Republican debate Wednesday 28 November. "Mitt Romney proposes himself to be president of the United States but last night he clearly demonstrated not only his ignorance of American history but also his contempt for Southerners who love and respect their Confederate ancestors.

"Gov. Romney went way over the line when he attacked Southerners for respecting the historical significance of the Confederate flag. Perhaps the citizens of his state of Massachusetts still hate Southerners, but Gov. Romney should not expect us to accept his outrageous attack on Southern heritage."

Responding to a question about the Confederate flag, Romney said, "That flag frankly, is divisive and shouldn't be shown. Right now with the kinds of issues we've got in this country, I'm not going to get involved with a flag like that."

"That's not a flag that I would recognise so that I would hold it up in my room."

"The people of our country have decided not to fly that flag. I think that's the right thing."

Sullivan went on to say, "We were not aware that the people of the country have had their First Amendment rights abridged as Mr. Romney seems to desire. Whether Gov. Romney likes it or not, Confederate flags are freely flown throughout the U.S. and in other countries as well."

"The Sons of Confederate Veterans, Inc. does not participate in partisan politics. We do speak out when anyone disparages the honorable service of Confederate soldiers and the symbols which identified them," Sullivan concluded.

Here it is! The latest issue of COV for Sunday 2nd December

This week (says aneweric) I speak my mind about the current flap concerning the speech given by Julie Beck at LDS conference, and how many LDS women are banding together to protest the image of an ideal woman as espoused by Beck.

“Yesterday I posted the "talk" given by Julie Beck, Relief Society General President, unedited. I needed to think about how I wanted to formulate my final response to this topic, so I posted it without commentary. I gave myself some time to mull it over.

In my opinion, Beck is either kidding herself or acting as a flunky for church leadership.

I see why the group at whatwomenknow.org are upset with Beck. In one short, relatively inane address Beck managed to insult just about any woman, LDS or not. Despite my feelings on this subject, I will focus more on the technical aspects of her speech as well as the meaning of her words.”

Eric’s analysis of what Beck said is on the money, to my way of thinking. Of course, it is possible that Beck was only saying what she had been told to say. The GOF (Grand Old Fossils) of TSCC (The So-called Church) might have wanted this message sent out to out of control Mormon females. “Some of them have GASP!- got more than one piercing! And of them are not popping out babies like rabbits! We must stop this wild behaviour!”

Next up is something rather special from Kita Kazoo. It is an article she has written for her own webpage:

”This week I have written an article for our webpage that I want to submit. http://happy-valley-tattoo.com/2007/11/mormon-tattoo-piercing-controversy.html”

This is a very well researched piece. One quote from it is “To further the injury of one’s personal opinion of fashion being stated as if it is a law from God, President Hinckley allows for one sort of permanent decorative change to ones appearance and not another, which seems hypocritical to me. Mr. Hinckley allows within the church for women to have their faces tattooed with permanent cosmetics and wear pierced earrings, (but one pair only – one in each ear) as those are socially acceptable with in his peer group.”

Is it possible that Mr Hinckley just hasn’t heard of permanent cosmetics at his advanced time in life? So this means that his decisions –and here’s a shocker!- are based not on revelations from God but on his own prejudicial views, only!

And now, here’s one from Clutch. Quite a sad one, actually.

http://www.cvrick.com/cv_rick/2007/11/growing-up-mo-4.html

“I watched my father's music choices change as he gave his life over to the Mormon church.”

(Yes, the Mormon church destroyed my family’s happy pre-Mormon life, too, slowly, for several years after my mother decided we were going to become Mormons. Then there was none of it left…)

And from South Bay Soliloquies, a movie review of Hitman. (Or a film review for us Brits. Some of which still call them The Flicks, based on the original touring Victorian showmen who used to tour with hand-cranked devices with moving images caused by the flicking of pictures…)

http://south-bay-soliloquies.blogspot.com/2007/11/movie-review-hitman.html

And here is mine for this issue:-

http://notamormon.blogspot.com/2007/12/agenda-take-your-agenda-and-shove-it.html

“Agenda? Take your agenda and shove it!

Sometimes the RFM board pisses me off. There are some people who use it to push a particular agenda. These usually have naff-all to do with the real agenda of the board, that of Recovery From Mormonism.”

That’s it for this issue!

See you in two weeks time, Sunday 23^rd December. Yes. That’s Christmas week. Have fun! And please do send your entry in.

Maybe we could have a bit of Christmas fun with that one…

Agenda? Take your agenda and shove it!

Sometimes the RFM board pisses me off. There are some people who use it to push a particular agenda. These usually have naff-all to do with the real agenda of the board, that of Recovery From Mormonism.

We have had people fulminating about the evils of the education system (which one? Some people forget not everyone on RFM lives where THEY do! A bit of cultural imperialism if ever I saw it!).

Others fulminate about the dangers of NOT using the education system and drone on interminably about the evils and dangers of home schooling. (They base this on the fact that a family member home schools and is not doing a particularly good job. –In their opinion, that is… They seem to overlook the fact that it might be their family who can’t home school, or that their opinion of how their family member teachers their child is flawed.)

There are others who just because someone mentions in passing using a so-called alternative health remedy for a minor ailment drag out their own “anti-alternative health” agenda and take over RFM ranting and raving against each and every “alternative medicine paradigm” as if it were the same.

Salt water douche for the nose? Acupuncture, massage therapy, osteopathy, chiropractic, meditation, Yoga, ear candles, breathing exercises, Reiki, Traditional Chinese Medicine, NLP, Vitamins, minerals, Bio-feedback, flower essences, herbal medicine, etc., it is all treated in exactly the same way. With- Hysterical Ignorance.

Actually Several of us on the RFM board have concluded –based on years of observation – that most of these anti-alternative medicine people only ever turn up when someone posts something mentioning alternative medicine in a positive light.

There was an experiment to this end. A post with only a passing positive reference to an alternative health remedy was put on the board. And, sure enough, within a very short period of time a group of people (who were new to RFM) began posting anti-alternative health attacks (mostly ad hom attacks on RFM posters) and the usual suspects on the board who like to think of themselves as experts on every subject under the sun joined in, unaware that they had been dragged in to a bogus debate by a bunch of paid professional sock puppets with an agenda far removed from RFM!

Amusingly some of the posters quoted from some VERY dubious sources: For example a doctor who had LOST a case in which he had libelled another MD, and who had thus lost the respect of his colleagues. Others quoted from a Canadian doctor who had been running a campaign to have any mother whose child died in a house fire caused by the child playing with matches or fire lighters charged with murder. But of course, they were only interested in his crackpot views on medicine, not any of his other equally deluded and dangerous views… And why only mothers, not fathers?)

Then there’s the Darwin ID and atheism agenda and the “debate” this engenders. If you can call being a rude SOB a debate! There are those who think that by quoting great lumpen wodges of barely relevant text from Wikipedia and Google that this proves the point that they are making. It doesn’t. It just pisses others off.

Of course, whenever this is pointed out on the board, toys are thrown out of the pram, and nappies/diapers filled as the poor wee mite loses control of their bowel movements as they contort their little baby faces in to masks of rage!

They give the impression of not really wanting views that differ from their own to be expressed on RFM...

And others seem to have the agenda of always having to be right. They just love to argue. They claim knowledge they can’t have, claiming that YOUR personal experience did not happen! For example: “YOU could not have had to get the police to issue an order to the local Bishop! YOU could not have served in three different countries on your mission! YOU could not have been spoken to like that by a Bishop!” (Well gee, thanks, mate. But I was there. You weren’t.)

I remember one poster who denied on the board that the temperature at 1pm where I live was 90oF. He based this on the fact that the temperature at a place 200 miles distant had been projected to be only 70oF at 6am. (That’s 200 miles distant, and 7 hours earlier, before the sun had risen in the sky, and projected figures only. And in the UK even only 2 miles can mean the difference between sunshine and torrential rain. It’s due to the fact that three different weather centres meet over the UK.)

Even though at least five other posters in the UK confirmed that the temperature had risen to the 90s from as far a field as South Wales and Scotland, he STILL claimed that he was right and that all the posts from the UK were coming from one person. Even though the other posters confirming this were regular posters who had ALL signed in on the board!

Oh. Sorry. That turned into a rant. But I DID enjoy it! Maybe we should rant a bit more, I wonder?!

Carnival of the Veil Blast from the past! AKA COV Eighteen and a half!

Thanks for your archived posts. Here they are

This is from Clutch

“And here's one of my favorites from my blog, it's about how a Mormon 

family can certainly interfere with young relationships:”

http://www.cvrick.com/cv_rick/2007/07/growing-up-mo-3.html

And from South Bay Soliloquies a rather sobering post about sexual violence in Utah

http://south-bay-soliloquies.blogspot.com/2006/03/sexual-violence-in-utah.html

And here is my achieved post as to why MLMs seem to be so very popular amongst Mormons

http://notamormon.blogspot.com/2006/08/why-do-so-many-mormons-enter-mlm.html

Should this be a new, occasional feature of COV? What does everyone think?

Carnival of the Veil for Sunday 18 November

Here is the Carnival of the Veil for Sunday 18 November.

We start off with A New Eric.

http://www.aneweric.com/index.php?blog=1&title=theoanthropological_revisionism_does_tru&more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1

‘As I’m sure my voice will be one of thousands upon thousands who throw their two cents into this discussion, I will do my best to limit the tone of this article to a less-emotional voice.

On November 8th, 2007, it was revealed that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints was changing a single word in the Book of Mormon to reflect “details of the Book of Mormon demography which are not known.”’

As Eric points out this is revisionism. Mormon-style.

Sideon has moved. He no longer users Blogger he is now over at Wordpress

http://sideon.wordpress.com/2007/11/16/gender-roles/

Takes you to his latest posting, which is about gender roles

“A “powerful” woman is as frightening today as it was in the 1700’s, just as much as a foppish man gets little or no respect. And nothing makes straight men more instantly insane than the thought of a gay man that can kick their ass, an even more fearful image than actually seeing a man kiss another man. I’m muddying the waters here, because sexuality and gender roles are not mutually exclusive.”

Hey there, Carnival of the Veil folks.

I have stopped blogging on BLOGGER and I migrated to WordPress.

If you're so inclined, please update your links to the new address: http://sideon.wordpress.com/

I'm in the process of updating my links. Let me know if you do/don't want to be listed.

Much thanks. -Donavan aka Sideon

And the latest from South Bay Soliloquies covers an art event which sounded kind of cool!

http://south-bay-soliloquies.blogspot.com/2007/11/lacma-dal-painting-film.html

Saturday, instead of going to a Marine Corps Ball or some such other Leatherneck event, I went to LACMA (Los Angeles County Museum of Art) to see their exhibit of Dalí: Painting and Film. I think it goes until the 6th of January, so if you haven't seen it I recommend checking it out.

It was really very enjoyable. I don't go to enough art museums, although I like the feeling of having my mind kneaded by art.

It was also incredibly crowded! Wow! The first room was the worst, but after that it was OK. It was really refreshing to see a crowded art exhibit too; the stereotypical impression I have of art musuems is that "no one goes to them"

And at Clutch we learn how to cheat, as taught by the Mormon Church.

http://www.cvrick.com/cv_rick/2007/11/growing-up-mo-2.html

“Essentially they brought in a Missionary consultant to teach us how to cheat in order to win a game of searching through scriptures. I laughed at the irony. But the funniest part of the whole team experience was that I was the fastest of all the cheaters on our cheating team, and when it came time to go to the competition, the High School Basketball team was invited to a tournament in Butte, Montana. I went there instead.”

And here is my contribution

“Last Sunday was a good day. It was cold, but dry. We went to Birmingham for the Diwali celebrations. Saw some great performances, Bangra dancing and music, some live Bollywood style singing and dancing, some real Indian food, and a really good firework display.”

http://notamormon.blogspot.com/2007/11/it-was-snowing-earlier-today.html

I have decided to include the classic blog posts in a separate COV posting.

See you next time on Sunday 2 December.

It was snowing, earlier today. It turned to rain, and the snow did not stick.

Last Sunday was a good day. It was cold, but dry. We went to Birmingham for the Diwali celebrations. Saw some great performances, Bangra dancing and music, some live Bollywood style singing and dancing, some real Indian food, and a really good firework display.

Some of my wife's family are from India, which is why I get to go to such cool events.

We went with friends. We took the train from Shropshire and when we got back at 9pm it was so cold the car doors froze to the frame!

I would never have been able to attend such wonderful and culturally enriching events as a Mormon. Such things were never done. And if ever a Mormon does see traditional Indian dancing -for example- the Mormon will say in patronising terms: "That was very nice. But what a pity they do not have the light of the Gospel in their lives!" If only they knew!

Carnival of the Veil Sunday 4 November

Here is COV for Sunday 4 November.

We start with a contribution from South Bay Soliloquies
http://south-bay-soliloquies.blogspot.com/2007/10/movie-review-lust-caution.html

It is a very interesting film (sorry, Movie!) review:
“I went to this amazing movie tonight. Alone.

It was an incredible cinematic experience. Ang Lee has outdone himself. My only disappointment is that I feel most American audiences would not "get" the film. What available character development is subtle, and I don't think the average American does well with subtle. Perhaps it would be better to read the short story the film is based on first, although I think I would have enjoyed the movie, either way.”

Next is from A New Eric:

Who writes:

“Sorry I don't respond to Carnival very often... I took it for granted while Donavan was doing it, 'cause he'd often just grab something off my blog without telling me!

This last week I talked about the truthiness o the church. The link
is at
http://www.aneweric.com/index.php?blog=1&title=the_doctrine_of_truthiness&more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1

“The Doctrine of Truthiness
The Doctrine of Truthiness
Main Entry: truthiness
Part of Speech: n
Definition: the state of wishing things to be true; also, conformity to beliefs one feels or wishes to be true
Example: Truthiness is a satirical term coined by television comedian Stephen Colbert to describe things that a person claims to know intuitively, instinctively, or "from the gut" without regard to evidence, logic, intellectual examination, or actual facts.
Etymology: 2005”

And also now From the Ashes
http://emergingfromtheashes.blogspot.com/2007/10/baggage.html

“The other day I turned on the TV to find an afternoon cartoon for my son. The TV was tuned to some random channel, and a woman was on telling the story of Samuel from the Hebrew Bible to a group of children. "And Samuel said, 'Here I am, Lord'."

I immediately tensed up. I bristled at the thought of my son hearing that story about god talking to a boy. It could have been any Bible, story, though, and I still would have gone on the defensive. I turned the channel as quickly as possible. To me, that TV show represented the literalist religious tradition I have rejected, as well as the figurative or mythological tradition I have rejected as the standard and origin for morals. To me, the Bible is baggage. “


And new this time, we welcome CVRick and his groovy blog

http://www.cvrick.com/cv_rick/2007/11/growing-up-morm.html

He has a fascinating insight into growing up Mormon. What some people call: “Hmmm!” Moments)

"Growing Up Mormon - Inactive Families
One Halloween my whole Mormon world was turned upside down.
When I was fourteen, we went on a young adult scavenger hunt for a church Halloween activity. The object was to go to member's houses and obtain items to complete a list of requirements, bring all those items back to the church, and assemble the perfect scarecrow. Items included an old flannel shirt, straw for stuffing, a hat, boots, etc. We were given the list and a ward directory. Each team had an adult leader to drive them around and we were off."


And here is my contribution
http://notamormon.blogspot.com/2007/11/are-you-frightened-of-mormonism.html

Are you frightened of Mormonism?
Well... are you?

Moronism annoys me. It pisses me off, but it does not (at least, I do not think) frighten me. Yet it does seem to frighten other people.

Oh, please do not get me wrong! I am -for want of a better way of expressing this- frightened of the damage Mormonism can do to people and to families (my own family is a prime example of this, after all!) but am I scared of Mormonism, per se? No, I do not think so.

Yet there are some people who seem scared of the whole concept of Mormonism. Let's take this example…

See you in two weeks time. And if you do not have a new post to send in, then just send me a post from your archives! And do tell other exmo bloggers about what we are up to.

Are you frightened of Mormonism?

Well... are you?

Moronism annoys me. It pisses me off, but it does not (at least, I do not think) frighten me. Yet it does seem to frighten other people.

Oh, please do not get me wrong! I am -for want of a better way of expressing this- frightened of the damage Mormonism can do to people and to families (my own family is a prime example of this, after all!) but am I scare of Mormonism, per se? No, I do not think so.

Yet there are some people who seem scared of the whole concept of Mormonism. Let's take this example. I always put adsense adverts on my blogs. The "fun" ones like Notamormon and the serious ones, which are not really blogs, but ways of using the www.blogger.com platform to publish online magazines. (Please, if you want to take a look you can access them via my portal site at www.thatsnews.org.uk)

But there are some people who got really upset about my notamormon blog when I first started it! Why? Because some of the adverts that came up where gasp! pro-Mormon!

And... the problem with that would be... what, exactly?

"Well, it is promoting the Mormon church!"

No. All it is doing is running an advert like any other advert-carrying publication. You have a problem with that?

"Yes! Yes, I DO! You can't DO that!"

"Why? Why not?"

The problem is that the people who complained loudly about my advert carrying some Mormon adverts (and who did so on the RFM board, too, thus helping bring down a firestorm of anti-bloggness which reigned until Eric kindly gave ex-Mormon bloggers a link page) seem incapable of spotting the delicious irony of the stituation of an ex-Mormon blog being funded by the Mormon Church! I thought that it was partially a payback for all the tithing that the Mormon Church took off me while I was a member.

Maybe I should keep score?

Ex-Mormon Carnival of the Veil October 21 2007

Hello and welcome to this issue of Carnival of the Veil. At present we are having unusually warm sunny days. This is not uncommon in October in Britain. But the cloudless days give way to cloudless nights and the damp cold does then start to bite. And we are getting ground frosts. Time to get the vulnerable plants under cover or in doors. We are sharing our kitchen with two potted trees at the moment. Eventually when we build a conservatory, they will live in there.

First off this time is a post from South Bay Soliloquise

http://south-bay-soliloquies.blogspot.com/2007/10/knotts-scary-farm-2007.html

“I went to Knott's Scary Farm last night.I had, for want of a better, more intense, more descriptive phrase, a blast. Everyone in our party of six got spooked at least twice.Some friends from my happy hour group got together and we carpooled down to Buena Park. For dinner we went to the pre-scare dinner special buffet - Mrs. Knott's fried chicken, mashed potatoes, assorted salads, dinner rolls (with boysenberry jam!) and pie. I, of course, had to have a slice of the boysenberry pie. The fried chicken was most delicious.”

Sounds like a great time was had by all!

Next up is Equality’s Blog.

http://equalitysblog.typepad.com/equality_time/2007/10/recommended-sit.html

“With all the great resources out there for people who are engaged in religious studies generally and Mormon studies in particular, I thought I would start a new recurring feature here at Equality Time to help people find the best blogs and web sites out there on the "Internets" that deal with these subjects. For the inaugural post in what I intend to be a regular series, I feature a newly created blog by a talented artist (who, it seems, at this point wants to remain anonymous). The blog is called Images of the Restoration. The author/artist of this blog has created a number of compelling depictions of events from Mormon history--events that Mormon apologists, studious members of the LDS Church who venture outside the correlated materials, and critics of the LDS Church alike are aware of but which are seldom if ever mentioned or depicted in official LDS Church lesson materials.”

Cool! Looks like this could be a really great idea for a continuing series on the blog.

Sister Mary Lisa (blogger and artist) is here with

http://sistermarylisa.blogspot.com/2007/10/leavin-on-jet-plane-part-three.html

“Jet lag was a term I had heard of but had never experienced until I arrived at that scouting lodge in Austria. We were shown into big rooms full of single twin beds and bunkbeds, where we all fell into an exhausted sleep almost immediately.

I discovered cultural differences the next morning while getting ready that until then I had been ignorant of. Standing at the sink next to a girl from France, I reached for the cold faucet and turned it on at the exact same time she turned on the hot. We had each also simultaneously lowered our toothbrushes under the water to get the toothpaste wet before brushing. We looked at each other in surprise, and she spoke first. “You use cold water when you brush your teeth?!” I replied, “You use hot?!” Interesting. I let her go first. She shook her head and laughed about using cold water with another French girl.”

(HOT water? Gosh! Do these French people have no shame? No sense of conservation?!)
By the way, I might have mentioned this before, but Sister Mary Lisa has the coolest photograph I have ever seen on any blog. Ever. Just check it out to see what I mean.


And from Fiddley Gomme we have a General Conference blog post
http://fiddley.com/archive/200710/conference_weekend “Around our house, LDS General Conference has become and excuse for Donna to hole up in her craft room and scrapbook with a friend. For them, the weekend is meant to be free of spouses and children. An orgy of die-cuts and heart-shaped punches, not to be interrupted by the trivial goings-on of the rest of us.” Crafting is a damn serious business! And finally, here is my blog for this edition of Carnival of the Veil http://notamormon.blogspot.com/2007/10/matt-really-must-get-his-act-together.html “I really must get my act together and finish of my book. I am writing my very own “book of the bog” a book based on the best of my posts here at Notamormon.
Why? Well I have always wanted to write a book and as I already have the material that I have published on the blog it would seem to be silly to ignore that wealth of material.”

Matt REALLY must get his act together!

I really must get my act together and finish of my book. I am writing my very own “book of the bog” a book based on the best of my posts here at Notamormon.

Why? Well I have always wanted to write a book and as I already have the material that I have published on the blog it would seem to be silly to ignore that wealth of material.

It will tell some of the highs and the lows of being a former Mormon. And God knows, there are enough highs and lows.

Being an ex-Mormon is hard enough if none of your family members joined the Mormon Church. But if your entire immediate family joined or you family has been under the cosh of the Mormon cult for many years, then it must be infinitely worse.

Does anyone know of a publisher who might want to take a look at my ex-Mormon book? If you do, then please email me their contact details at matt_exmo@yahoo.co.uk

By the way, do you know anyone who writes an ex-Mormon or post-Mormon blog and who is not yet a member of the Carnival of the Veil? If so, please do invite them to join us here at the Carnival of the Veil. All they need do is to email me at matt_exmo@yahoo.co.uk and I will add them to the Carnival of the Veil mailing list.

Carnival of the Veil 7 October 2007

Welcome to this edition of Carnival of the Veil, for 7 October, 2007.

First we kick of with something from South Bay Soliloquies.

http://south-bay-soliloquies.blogspot.com/2007/10/im-leaf-on-wind-watch-me-soar.html

“I don't know what happened the past couple of days that turned my mood around.

Okay, I have an idea, but I never knew that it would bring me into the happiest state I've ever known myself to be in. I wish I could share the gritty details but it's a little too personal to share with the world. Some secrets are best left secrets.”

And another one

http://south-bay-soliloquies.blogspot.com/2007/10/tied-to-ideals.html

“It never ceases to amaze me how much we value ideas, especially those ideas pertaining to hope, freedom, and happiness. Those ideas enrich our souls and give meaning to life.

I think this is why I enjoy reading dystopian fiction so much - in forcing a society to live up to an ideal, the society ends up robbing the people belonging to it the very things most societies (and people) should value most.”

And here is Emerging From the Ashes. (Being from Britain, I always expect this to be about Cricket. But of course, it never is! -The Ashes is a major Cricket Tournament between The MCC (The English/Welsh cricket team and the Australians)

http://emergingfromtheashes.blogspot.com/2007/09/remembering.html

“Do all churches do this? Do all churches eulogize and remember a person as if he had been a perfect, faithful, believing member? Even when he hadn't been to church since he was old enough to tell his parents, "I ain't goin' "? Do they all pick songs to sing at the funeral that the deceased probably didn't recognize, let alone like?

"Rebellion" and swearing and alcoholism and bar fights and no-mission and no-temple are all rendered "free spirit" and "did things his own way," with a sideways smile. They are, I suppose, trying their best to be nice and polite and remember the best of him. Which is fine. Who doesn't want to be remembered well? For people to forget the foibles and faults. But foibles and faults according to whom? The deceased? Sure, I'd bet he'd admit he did some stupid things in his life, that there were some things that he'd not repeat if he had the chance.

A special post, next. A guest appearance from Fiddley Gomme’s wife! Who is marking a very important anniversary!

http://fiddley.com/archive/200709/its_all_about_me

“Since tomorrow is the fifteenth anniversary of our first date, and of my nineteenth birthday (don't spend too much time doing the math) I thought it was time I formally introduce myself.

My name is Donna and I am married to Pete. We have been married most of those fifteen years and have 4 beautiful girls. And I'm not just saying that because they are mine, everyone says so. Even the ones that don't look like me.”

And here is my effort for this time

http://notamormon.blogspot.com/2007/10/general-conference-it-used-to-be.html

"General Conference. My God. That used to be so important to us, as a Mormon family, living in Britain.

We used to have to go by coach to the Stake Centre 30 to 40 miles away and join with everyone from the stake listening to the conference brought by transatlantic cable."

And that is it until next time in two weeks. Please do send your entry in to matt_exmo@yahoo.co.uk in time for Sunday 21 October. See you then!

PS. If you know anyone who has an exmo blog but who doesn't subscribe to COV, please forward an invite for them to get on board!

General Conference. It USED to be important to me...

General Conference. My God. That used to be so important to us, as a Mormon family, living in Britain.

We used to have to go by coach to the Stake Centre 30 to 40 miles away and join with everyone from the stake listening to the conference brought by transatlantic cable.

Every so often during the broadcast we would hear the following exchange, always in a flat South East England accent: “Hello New York, Hello New York. This is London calling for a line check.” For some reason we never heard the reply from New York.

One year –does anyone else remember this? - we accidentally got the Spanish language version of the conference for about 30 minutes until someone (maybe Mr “Hello, New York” or the person he spoke to in New York) realised there was a problem and sorted it out.

One year, at the insistence of the rat faced Sister missionary, whose husband was the branch president, the coach went early so we missed the trip to the conference.

We walked back home and I spent an hour or so combing the short wave bands until I found a radio station that was carrying the live feed from Salt Lake City. WNWY, Radio New York, World Wide, it was, a station then owned by The Mormon Church.

“It was SUCH a pity that you missed the conference!” wittered sister Busybody, the branch busybody.”

“Oh, but we didn’t! Said my mother. “Matt was able to find it on the radio for us, so we heard it all live!” That shut her up. “Nice one, mum,” I thought.

But now, as an exmo, I can’t see why many of my fellow exmos are so interested in the conference. After all, it is the same crap year after year. “Tithe, tithe, tithe! Temple, temple, temple! Missionary work, missionary work, missionary work!”

All set to the backdrop of lies, distortions and half-truths from the paid clergy of the Mormon Church. (See, the point is that when the Mormon Church tells you it doesn’t have a paid clergy, they are lying. They DO have a paid clergy, although not as many as some churches do.

Welcome to the Carnival of the Veil!

We start this edition with a posting from the blog of paranoidfr33k, with a posting explaining why paranoidfr33k is paranoid.

http://paranoidfr33k.blogspot.com/2007/09/why-i-am-paranoid.html

“Why am I paranoid? Because everyone is out to get me. Thats why! If you were in my position, you would be paranoid too.” (ED: That’s not paranoia! It is enlightened self-protection and commonsense! Actually, paranoidfr33k makes some very good points on what it is like to be an exmo if your family is still very much in…)

The next post is from South Bay Soliloquies who is suffering at the moment. My thoughts go out to you. It is tough, but hang on in there…
http://south-bay-soliloquies.blogspot.com/2007/09/loss-of-great-love.html
“I lost a Great Love tonight.I have no one with whom to share my bed, my food, my home, or my life with. Not to mention my dreams, the great sorrows and triumphs of life, and my soul.”

On, now, to Thoughts from Sister Mary Lisa who writes on the topic of Utah drivers. (Who are, probably, mainly Mormon)

http://sistermarylisa.blogspot.com/2007/09/utah-drivers.html

“OK, I had to laugh at Melliferous Pants' blog...she's so damn funny. She recently moved to Utah from California and has discovered the suckiness that is Utah drivers.”
And DO have fun with the comments on the good Sister’s post!

This next one is from Utarnia who has a heartfelt plea that I am sure we can all sympathise with:

http://utarnia.com/2007/09/uncle.html

“I give up! I just want to be normal! No more Mormonism - ever again! I'm sick of the way I get treated. The stares... The pointing... God two year olds have better manners. The inaction and lies from the local police when my business is attacked by lunatics.”

And here is the Eight Hour Lunch contribution
http://www.eighthourlunch.com/archives/20070930.php#episode23

This week’s podcast starts with some cool music and an apology. And it is clear that there has not been a lunch anything like eight hours in length for our host! The podcast includes an interview with the host/owner of http://www.postmormon.org/ and listener’s letters. Including a drink of the week from Nicole, and a whole lot more.

And finally, here is my contribution.

In March 2006 I posted about the bitterness and anger that I felt about the Mormon Church. Someone read this post within the past week and sent me a comment, which I allowed to be published on the site.

This is what Sam said:
“Hey Matt - sorry to hear of your bad experiences with mormonism. You have every right to be angry. Unfortunately as long as you have bitterness and hatred, it still has power over you. If you want to be free, it has to be God's way - through forgiveness. If you want help to come out from under this curse through Jesus, go to freedomkeepers.com or boblarson.com”

Well, that’s kind of Sam. But exactly how do you forgive a Mormon? Can Mormons really accept forgiveness?
http://notamormon.blogspot.com/2007/09/bitterness-and-anger-against-mormonism.html

See you later, in two weeks time.

Bitterness and anger against Mormonism and Mormons and exactly how can you forgive a Mormon?

TBM: “You are just bitter and you hate the Mormon church!”EXMO: “Now, what on earth would I have to be bitter about regarding the Mormon church? And why would I hate it?”

Could it possible be because before my parents joined the Mormon church my mother was a kind, loving and wise person, yet within 20 years had degenerated in to a shrill, hateful sour person who was unrecognisable as the woman who had raised me?

Could that be it do you think? Or perhaps it might be because the Mormon church took my father who was sensitive and creative and fucked him over so much that he became totally dependent on the church for every aspect of his life?

My father used to have hobbies. The Mormon church made certain that he had no time for hobbies. How? Their stupid incessant “busy, busy, work, work” programme of meetings, all part of their cult brainwashing techniques.

Or could it be the fact that my little brother was subject to psychological abuse by the Bishop, do you think? Would that make someone bitter, do you think? Possibly? I wanted to beat the crap out of him, but my mother begged me not to. Years later I feel anger towards myself for NOT beating up the shit.

Do I feel anger that my parents wanted to move us back to our home city, yet were forced by the local Mormons into staying in an area that they really were not comfortable with and in which we never really fitted in? Who, me? Angry?

Do I feel bitter that the Mormon church forced my parents to stay in an area with a very poor educational system, rather than going back to our home city which had a very good educational system so that I would have been able to get a degree and lived a fuller and better life? Who, me? Bitter?

Am I angry that the Mormon church made my parents stay in an area with low job prospects as well as a poor educational system?

Some people will say: “Well, Matt, that’s a little unfair. You cannot blame the Mormon church for every bad thing in your life, since your parents joined the Mormon church.”Oh, really? Who says? I say that everyone who is a Mormon or who was a Mormon has been damaged by the Mormon Church to a greater or lesser extent.

I call it the MDO, or Mormon Domino Theory.

If you have 1,000 dominos, all lined up together, if you push domino 1 down, eventually the who line of dominos will have fallen over and domino 999 will knock down domino 1000. So, domino number 1 had nothing to do with it, then? Why, yes! Of course it did! It started the whole process off!

Another example. Let’s imagine there are three people on a railway station platform. Person three deliberately pushed person two, knocking them into person one on purpose, causing person one to get killed by a train. Who caused the death? Person two? Or person three? It is cause and effect.

A different example. Let’s picture the following scene. A child is walking along a pavement (aka sidewalk) and a drunken driver mounts the pavement and strikes them, causing them such terrible injuries that they lose most of the use of their leg.

Now, for the rest of their life as they grow up, that person will always walk with a limp. They’ll work hard to compensate for it, but they WILL always walk with a limp. Nobody in their right mind would say: “Oh, for God’s sake! Stop walking with that limp! You have walked with a limp for years, ever since the car ran you down!”

And that is another way to view the terrible damage caused by Mormonism. You get up and leave Mormonism (recover from the accident) but there’s always the fact that you were a Mormon and the brainwashing/cult indoctrination damaged the way you think, the way you react to situations, etc.

You CAN recover from Mormonism, but like the person in the Road Traffic Accident, you will always have a limp of some kind, no matter how hard you try to cope with it and to hide it.Bitter against Mormonism? Angry with it? Hell, yes. I AM! And I DEMAND the right to be bitter and angry with the cult that destroyed my family and damaged my life.

I created the above post in March 2006. And it received the following comment within the past week:

In March 2006 I posted about the bitterness and anger that I felt about the Mormon Church. Someone read this post within the past week and sent me a comment, which I allowed to be published on the site.

This is what Sam said:
“Hey Matt - sorry to hear of your bad experiences with mormonism. You have every right to be angry. Unfortunately as long as you have bitterness and hatred, it still has power over you. If you want to be free, it has to be God's way - through forgiveness. If you want help to come out from under this curse through Jesus, go to www.freedomkeepers.com or http://www.boblarson.com/”

Well, that’s kind of Sam. But exactly how do you forgive a Mormon? Can Mormons really accept forgiveness?”

But exactly how could I forgive the Mormon Church? It is not a sentient being, so forgiving the Mormon Church would be impossible.

Could I forgive what Mormons did to me? Did against me? Well, in theory, yes. But exactly how could I offer them my forgiveness?

Mormons are not capable of accepting forgiveness (at least from someone they would view as an heretical apostate) because Mormons do no wrong.

I can think of at least 20 times when members of my Mormon family did the dirty on me, including when they lied to me, lied about me, gossiped about me, backstabbed me, cheated me (in a business deal) when my brother and sister-in-law and Sister and brother-in-law all moved house at the same time (just after my mother went on her mission) without bothering to give me their new addresses or new ‘phone numbers. And those are only a few of my favourite things, to quote Julie Andrews.

But in order to be forgiven, my family would need to understand and accept that their behaviour has been wrong and that it merited an apology and the opportunity to accept my forgiveness.

I actually tried this a couple of years ago. And it was thrown back in my face. I wrote my mother a letter that took me weeks to write, going through several editions. The letter I got back from my mother was vindictive, mean, cruel and filled with lie upon lie.

I reminded my mother why I left the Mormon Church (I put Moroni’s promise to the test.

(Moroni 10:3-5.
3 Behold, I would exhort you that when ye shall read these things, if it be wisdom in God that ye should read them, that ye would remember how merciful the Lord hath been unto the children of men, from the creation of Adam even down until the time that ye shall receive these things, and ponder it in your hearts.

4 And when ye shall receive these things, I would exhort you that ye would ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not true; and if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost.

5 And by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may know the truth of all things.

Imagine (in 1982) my surprise when I received, in answer to much prayer, a personal answer from God that the Mormon Church was not true.)

My mother wrote back that she did not believe what I had told her: “We know the REAL reason why you left the church!” This “we” referred to the family, so it is clear that I have been a source of constant gossip, lies and innuendo in my family from 1982 to the present day. God knows what my mother meant by her remark. I chose not to ask her as I really did not want to know what sick, warped nonsense they have cooked up against me.

So, it is not possible –for a filthy apostate, at any rate- to forgive a Mormon anything. Because as Mormonism is perfect, the Mormon cannot be at fault. So the only other option is that the other person (the wronged person!) is the one who is at fault!

Forgiving a Mormon is never easy. Because they have no concept that their behaviour is in any way wrong. Your average Mormon is forever the naughty little boy who, with biscuit crumbs on his clothing, with chocolate daubing his face, with his hand in the biscuit jar who says, through a mouthful of biscuit: “Me, mother? Eating the biscuits mother? Oh, no! Not I!”

In order to be forgiven, a person must first have the self-knowledge that they have done wrong. And most Mormons don’t have that.

Carnival of the Veil

Welcome to Carnival of the Veil for Sunday 9 September, 2007.

In this issue we have the following blog entries

From Sideon we have Mormon Makeover

“Gays and lesbians threaten the very foundation of Mormonism. In God's plans, even Satan had his place, but what in Kolob's name is a Heavenly Father-Figure (who would be HOT if he sang like George Michael) going to do with a fabulous and free-spirited folk? Let me tell you.”

http://sideon.blogspot.com/2007/09/mormon-makeover.html

We also have something from Sister Mary Lisa

Sunday Thoughts
“Sunday morning I walk through the chapel doors, greeted by Brother Jones who hands me a program. I find my usual pew and sit with my children and my dad who's visiting. We hear a beautiful prelude hymn, “O My Father” being played by the organist. I open my Book of Mormon to prepare for my lesson and read through the story of Alma and the sons of Mosiah. My daughter asks me who I'm reading about, and then she asks who my favorite women in the Book of Mormon are. I struggle to think of any, but I assure her there must be some.”
http://sistermarylisa.blogspot.com/2007/08/sunday-morning-i-walk-through-chapel.html

And from South Bay Soliloquies we read the following


“I woke up this morning and had a craving for Vu Villa pizza. Which would be fine except for the fact that the Vu Villa is in Butte, Montana, and I'm here in L.A. I'm fairly certain they don't deliver interstate. This is a sad thing. I guess I'll have to wait until they start marketing frozen Vu Villa pizzas at my local grocery store.”

http://south-bay-soliloquies.blogspot.com/2007/09/vu-villa-pizza.html

And lastly, here is my own contribution

Is a visit by the Mormon missionaries a little bit like getting a spam email? Some of those emails have very interesting and catchy headlines, don’t they? Like: “Important message re your business proposal.”

http://notamormon.blogspot.com/2007/09/are-mormon-missionaries-door-to-door.html

See you in another two weeks!

Are Mormon missionaries door-to-door spam?

Is a visit by the Mormon missionaries a little bit like getting a spam email? Some of those emails have very interesting and catchy headlines, don’t they? Like: “Important message re your business proposal.”

Now, you are expecting an email about a business proposal, so with excitement you open the email… only to find that it is not even selling you something vaguely helpful like a wonderful new Multi-Level Marketing (MLM) scheme (ha!) but something that is totally bogus such as how to enhance your bodily parts, a hot stock tip or a genuine fake watch.

In disgust you delete the email. Hoping that it hasn’t inserted a Trojan in your computer, designed to take over your computer and fill it with programmes that you certainly do not want it to be running.

There is a knock at the door. “Hi. We have a wonderful message to share. Would you like us to share it with you?” Yes. You got it! It is the religious equivalent of spam, a visit by the Mormon missionaries!

The trouble is that with some people (like my parents who were tracted by the Mormon missionaries) they put a mental Trojan into their mind and can take over their thought processes. And fill it with programmes that you certainly do not want it to be running.

Welcome to Carnival of the Veil for Sunday 9 September, 2007.

In this issue we have the following blog entries

From Sideon we have Mormon Makeover

“Gays and lesbians threaten the very foundation of Mormonism. In God's plans, even Satan had his place, but what in Kolob's name is a Heavenly Father-Figure (who would be HOT if he sang like George Michael) going to do with a fabulous and free-spirited folk? Let me tell you.”

http://sideon.blogspot.com/2007/09/mormon-makeover.html

We also have something from Sister Mary Lisa

Sunday Thoughts
“Sunday morning I walk through the chapel doors, greeted by Brother Jones who hands me a program. I find my usual pew and sit with my children and my dad who's visiting. We hear a beautiful prelude hymn, “O My Father” being played by the organist. I open my Book of Mormon to prepare for my lesson and read through the story of Alma and the sons of Mosiah. My daughter asks me who I'm reading about, and then she asks who my favorite women in the Book of Mormon are. I struggle to think of any, but I assure her there must be some.”
http://sistermarylisa.blogspot.com/2007/08/sunday-morning-i-walk-through-chapel.html

And from South Bay Soliloquies we read the following


“I woke up this morning and had a craving for Vu Villa pizza. Which would be fine except for the fact that the Vu Villa is in Butte, Montana, and I'm here in L.A. I'm fairly certain they don't deliver interstate. This is a sad thing. I guess I'll have to wait until they start marketing frozen Vu Villa pizzas at my local grocery store.”

http://south-bay-soliloquies.blogspot.com/2007/09/vu-villa-pizza.html

Abused churchgoers’ forum

In response to the launch of an organisation called Churchgoer Support which has been set up to provide a forum for victims of mistreatment by the Church – be that physical or psychological – and to expose attempts by the Church to cover its tracks, the organisation’s website has been inundated with visitors.

The new website aimed at helping people who have suffered at the hands of their church or minister, which was launched last month by Patricia Davies, herself caused much distress and mental anguish by the actions of a woman priest, is proving extremely popular with many visitors during its first weeks.

The site www.churchgoersupport.co.uk provides a forum for anyone who has been mistreated in any way by the person to whom many people turn for help and comfort – their local priest/pastor/minister/etc – and it is alleged that the Methodist Church has attempted to close it down.

“While I am pleased that many people have been able to visit the site and gained some comfort in knowing they are not alone in facing such situations, it is sad that In this Christian country, in the 21st century, there are still so many people suffering at the hands of the Church,” says Patricia Davies.

The website initially details Mrs Davies’s own experiences of attempting to effect a reconciliation with her Methodist Minister, even though it was the woman priest’s actions when Mrs Davies fell prey to depression that pushed her over the edge into deep mental distress.

The matter has been exacerbated by the Methodist Church authorities threatening to bring defamation, harassment and libel charges against Mrs Davies who, since having her formal complaint against the minister rejected on disputed evidence, has sought to publicise her plight.

Despite everything, Mrs Davies is still seeking reconciliation, but both the minister concerned and the Church continue refusing to consider her pleas, and have instead threatened to have Mrs Davies arrested if she does not drop the matter.

“Whether we can assist in preventing these despicable occurrences ever happening to anyone else in the future is unlikely,” says Mrs Davies, “but at least by creating this forum and encouraging people to speak out, we can cut through the attempts by the Church to cover up its misdeeds and let its victims know that they are not alone in suffering the wrath of local ministers.”

The Churchgoer Support movement can be contacted by email: contact@churchgoersupport.co.uk or writing to Help Project, PO Box 1026, Great Wakering, Southend on Sea SS3 OWX, or by visiting the website: www.churchgoersupport.co.uk

Welcome to Carnival of the Veil 26 August

Carnival of the Veil 26 August

Welcome to this issue of Carnival of the Veil dated August 26. First one edited and put together by me, Matt. Unusually here in the UK we are actually having some summer weather. And after I publish this, I will join my wife sitting in the sun, enjoying a glass of chilled cider. (That's the cider with alcohol, by the way.)


Thank you everyone who has submitted something for Carnival of the Veil for this issue. If you missed submitting something for this issue, do not worry! You can submit something for the next issue in two weeks time.

We start with something from Kita Kazoo

http://seriously.kitakazoo.com/2007/08/jack-and-jill.html

“I’m sitting on the couch and the dog barfs up something really nasty. Bad enough, but then I grab a paper towel and clean it up to find that the garbage can has no liner… AGAIN! I have a hand full of ick and no place to put it!

How many times has he taken out the garbage and forgotten the simple step of putting a fresh liner in? At least twice a week for the last 22 years… this would be 2288 times! How does one forget to do something 2288 times?”

(ED: Don’t you hate it when that happens?)

And paranoidfr33k submits the following:

http://paranoidfr33k.blogspot.com/2007/08/doctrine-of-polygamy.html

The Doctrine of Polygamy

“What do you think a TBM Mormon would say if you asked them if they beleive in polygamy? They'll give you the standard "we don't practice polygamy any more" answer and leave it at that. The fact is that in order to be a TBM Mormon, you must beleive in it. You must beleive that polygamy is divine doctrine”

And Diane writes
Here are a couple to look at; I'm not sure which one would be good:

http://south-bay-soliloquies.blogspot.com/2007/08/no-mormon-for-president.html
http://south-bay-soliloquies.blogspot.com/2007/08/moving-out-moving-on.html
http://south-bay-soliloquies.blogspot.com/2007/08/rise-of-internship.html

(ED: When faced with the choice I decided to bottled it (express cowardice!) and opt for all three!)

“No Mormon For President
Yes, Romney needs to answer questions about his religion

I think this article sums it up quite nicely. I personally don't want the guy giving the green light to a missile silo in North Dakota or Montana to say that he was going off of what 'the spirit' told him. That doesn't make me feel good!”

“Moving Out, Moving On
I've moved my blog. I suspected an ex-boyfriend was cyberstalking me, and I decided that it would be best to move my blog and excise any/all mention of him from its text. If you happen to be the bastard who I'm referring to, please leave me alone. I don't want you in my life and the next step for me is to quit blogging permanently”

“The Rise of the Internship
Service Learning

I didn't have any internships when I was in college.

Not that I tried. One year I refused an internship on principle (the company dicked around with my application, then wanted me to fill out an internship application after I had been interviewed), one year I didn't get any internship because I was busy with the Marines and when I was through with them it was too late to find any summer work, and one year I didn't get an internship because, well, no one wanted to hire me.”


It all began back in June, says Fiddley Gomme
http://fiddley.com/archive/200706/age_of_accountability
Then in July...
http://fiddley.com/archive/200707/operation_covert_covenant
Then culminating in trouble in August...
http://fiddley.com/archive/200708/washed_away
http://fiddley.com/archive/200708/saturday
http://fiddley.com/archive/200708/did_it_just_get_awkward_in_here
http://fiddley.com/archive/200708/a_split_decision

Thus proving that Mormonism and families do not mix…

And in closing, here is my conrtibution to the mix with tales of my idiot brother

My idiot brother.

My brother has decided to emigrate with his wife and kids to Canada. And unless my mother had not accidentally let it slip when I phoned her one day (she doesn’t phone me, however…) I would not know that they were leaving the country.

He spoke to me on the phone, but he seemed really pissed off that our mother had told me that he was emigrating to Canada.

Why?

It is, I fear, because I am a lost cause. The evil uncle. However, I know that my brother’s son is drinking spirits at friend’s houses. Some who are TBMs, too. My brother has not taught my nephew about safe drinking, so he has been running a little wild.

At a family party (the birthday of a nevermo aunt) I gave my nephew the kind of advice my stupid brother had not given him. I told him to steer clear of spirits and, if he was going to drink, to drink beer (real ale rather than lager) and to take into account how many units of alcohol he was drinking. He thanked me for my advice and revealed that he had never had a similar chat with his father. Which is sad, but only what I would have expected.

Sadly, my brother –who was a rebel as a youth- drills it into the head of his children that they must be perfect in all things, and, as a result, is driving them away from himself.

Some videos of steam trains and the like

I am a fan of steam trains and also of steam engines in general. I have posted these videos to share them with you. I hope you like them.

Hobsons Mild ale voted best beer in the UK

Hobsons Mild from Hobsons Brewery in Shropshire was today judged to be the best beer in Britain by a panel of brewers, beer writers and journalists at the Great British Beer Festival at Earls Court.

The beer is described in the 2007 edition of CAMRA's Good Beer Guide as: “A classic mild. Complex layers of taste come from roasted malts that predominate and give lots of flavour.”

The Shropshire brewed beer was chosen as the overall winner from over fifty finalists in eight categories including beers from tiny micros to major regional brewers.

Roger Protz, one of the finalist judges and Editor of the Good Beer Guide said: “It’s a great victory for a traditional British beer. It’s bursting with flavour and, unusually for a Mild, it’s got plenty of hop character.

“It’s great to see a classic copper coloured beer take the top award.”

Nick Davis, Director of Hobsons said: “What a great surprise! It’s a nutty mild and despite being only 3.2% abv it’s packed full of flavour.

“I would like to thank all the team at Hobsons in Cleobory Mortimer for their outstanding work in achieving this prestigious award.”

The Silver award went to Mighty Oak brewery in Essex for their Maldon Gold. The Bronze was awarded to Green Jack brewery in Suffolk for Ripper.

CATEGORY WINNERS – Note: The winner of the Champion Winter Beer of Britain (“Ripper” from Green Jack Brewery in Suffolk) was already in the final after being entered in February at the National Winter Ales Festival.

Milds
Gold: Hobsons Mild (Cleobory Mortimer, Shropshire 01299 270 837)
Silver: Nottingham Rock Mild (Radford, Nottingham, 0115 942 2649)
Bronze: Brains Dark (Cardiff, 029 2040 2060)

Bitters
Gold: Castle Rock Harvest Pale (Nottingham, 0115 985 1615)
Silver: Twickenham Crane Sundancer (Twickenham, Middlesex, 020 8241 1825)
Joint Bronze: Surrey Hills Ranmore Ale (Gilford, Surrey, 01483 212 812)
Joint Bronze: Fyne Piper's Gold (Cairndow, Argyll, 01499 600 238)

Best Bitters
Gold: Purple Moose Glaslyn Ale (Porthmadog, Gwynedd, 01766 515 571
Silver: George Wright Pipe Dream (Rainford, Merseyside, 01744 886 686)
Joint Bronze: Fuller's London Pride (London W4, 0208 996 2000)
Joint Bronze: Nethergate Suffolk County (Sudbury, Suffolk, 01787 283 220)
Joint Bronze: Station House Buzzin' (Ellesmere Port, Cheshire, 0151 356 3000)

Strong Bitters
Gold: York Centurion's Ghost (North Yorks, 01904 621 182)
Silver: Inveralmond Lia Fail (Inveralmond, Perth 01738 449 448)
Bronze: Brains SA Gold (Cardiff, 029 2040 2060)

Speciality Beers
Gold: Nethergate Umbel Magna, (Sudbury, Suffolk, 01787 283 220)
Silver: Little Valley Hebden Wheat, (Hendon, West Yorks 01422 883 888
Bronze: St Peter's Grapefruit, (Bungay, Suffolk, 01986 782 322)

Golden Ales
Gold: Mighty Oak Maldon Gold (Maldon, Essex 01621 843 713)
Silver: Oak Leaf Hole Hearted, Gosport, Hampshire, 023 9251 322
Bronze: Otley 01 (Pontypridd, Mid Glamorgan, 01443 480 555)

In CAMRA’s Champion Bottled Beer of Britain Competition, the awards went to:

Gold: O’Hanlon’s Port Stout (Devon 01404 822 412)

Joint Silver: Titanic Stout (Staffordshire 01782 823 447)

Joint Silver: Wye Valley Dorothy Goodbody’s Wholesome Stout (Herefordshire 01885 490 505)

Bronze: Wapping Baltic Gold (Merseyside, 0151 707 2242)

Judging at the Champion Beer of Britain finals is done on the morning of the first day of the Festival starting at 10.30am. Judging is carried out by panels of 6 tasters drawn from CAMRA trained tasters, brewers, licensees, beer writers, and a smattering of personalities, MPs etc who are beer drinkers. All tasting is done blind, in so far as the judges know which class of beer they are judging but do not know which are the particular beers.

Each panel judges about 6 or 7 beers from a class such as Bitter, Speciality Beers and Golden Ales and chooses a first, second and third. The winners of all the classes go on to the final judging panel where a new panel of judges taste the beers to judge the Champion Beer of Britain (typically, the bitter and best bitter classes include more entries, and therefore the gold and silver category winners go through to the final). The winner is then announced later in the day during the Trade Session at the Great British Beer Festival.

An Even Fairer Cup of Tea

Next time you make a brew spare a thought for tea farmers across the developing world. Most are poverty stricken because the price they receive on the world markets doesn’t bear any resemblance to what it actually costs them to produce it.

So thank goodness for Teadirect’s unique minimum pricing scheme: it means growers are always protected from the extreme lows of the commodity market. Cafédirect, the company behind Teadirect, has recently increased its minimum price to ensure that all growers supplying Teadirect are rewarded for the quality of the tea that they produce.

This way they can make a decent living from their crop and you can enjoy a decent cuppa!Teadirect is available in packs of 40, 80 and 160 tea bags and for those who wish to cut down on caffeine there is also a decaffeinated version.

Expect to pay around £2 for a box of 80 Teadirect tea bags. Cafédirect’s range of teas, coffees and drinking chocolate is 100% Fairtrade and is available from most supermarkets, Oxfam shops, Traidcraft mail order and independent wholefood retailers.

You can also enjoy Cafédirect and Teadirect away from home, as more and more offices and public places stock the range.

New global online church launched

A new online church aims to reach those with no experience of God or church Holy Trinity Ripon launches evangelistic church 'plant' on the internet www.church-on-the-net.com

Holy Trinity Ripon (Derbyshire) has launched an online 'church' for people who are not already engaged with the Christian faith, and who are looking for answers, but may not feel ready (or be able) to walk into a church building.

Its goal is to help people discover if God is of relevance to them today, providing a safe and self-directed way to find straightforward answers to questions about Christianity. Longer-term, the goal is to encourage them to find a local church where they can feel at home.

Very few churches exist purely online, and Church on the Net (www.church-on-the-net.com) is unique because it is evangelistic, rather than designed to serve believers or any pre-existing fellowship.

The team behind the project says that as well as agnostics, atheists and seekers, however, the online church may be useful to new Christians afraid of asking 'silly' questions, Christians who have slipped away from an active faith, and those who find it difficult to meet together (such as the housebound, carers, and those in remote areas or who face persecution).

"As odd as it may seem to Christians, who have all the advantages of fellowship through belonging to a traditional church, there are huge numbers of people who are accustomed to being part of online communities, whose 'friends' they may never meet face-to-face," says Mark Tanner, vicar of Holy Trinity Ripon. "The idea of doing things online feels safe and attractive to them, so why not introduce church into that lifestyle?"

Church on the Net is divided into three sections: - a reference section, with 85 articles offering explanations or perspectives on many issues relating to God, church and Christianity, including common and difficult questions - a weekly article, updated every Sunday, exploring the Christian faith and how it is lived out on a daily basis. T

he launch address has been provided by the Rt Revd John Packer, Bishop of Ripon & Leeds - an interactive community area, where visitors can engage with the site and one another through forums and blogs. Site content is provided by an editorial panel of ordained and lay people drawn from within Holy Trinity Ripon, plus guest writers.

"In an increasingly secular world, we are in danger of making assumptions about what people already know about our faith - which may not be much!" says Nicola David, project leader of Church on the Net. "This hit home when a teenager asked me if Christmas was when Jesus married Mary. So our articles try to be as clear, conversational and jargon-free as possible - particularly because we expect the majority of our audience to be outside of the UK, and won't have English as a first language."

40% of visitors to Holy Trinity Ripon's own church website (www.holytrinityripon.org.uk) are overseas, and come looking for answers to spiritual questions. Most commonly, these are seekers from China, Brazil, Vietnam, Russia, the United Arab Emirates, Korea, Morocco and Israel.

"Church on the Net is one of a range of ways Christians are extending a new invitation to community, to exploration and to faith through fresh expressions of church. I warmly commend it," says the Revd. Dr. Steven Croft, archbishops' missioner and team leader of Fresh Expressions (www.freshexpressions.org.uk). Plans are already afoot for phases two and three of the site, which will introduce extensive new functionality and features. Church on the Net is registered as a fresh expression of church with Fresh Expressions.

It exists under the authority of Holy Trinity Ripon (a church in the Church of England) and the Diocese of Ripon and Leeds. It is co-funded by Holy Trinity Ripon, the Diocese of Ripon and Leeds, and charitable grants.

£1Million bet on proving the afterlife

A self-syled paranormal investigator is hoping to collect ONE MILLION POUNDS from bookmakers William Hill in the UK, after placing a bet that conclusive proof of an after-life will be forthcoming.

Ross Hemsworth, of Glastonbury,England, has bet £100 at odds of 10,000/1 with William Hill as a means of supporting his own belief that the afterlife is close to being proved to exist, and coinciding with the imminent publication of his new book,

The Dead ARE Talking. "We are used to taking bets on matters as bizarre as the existence of the Loch Ness Monster; whether Elvis Presley is still alive and when UFOs may land, even on whether ghosts exist, but this is the first time we have ever taken a bet that conclusive proof of the existence of the after-life will be forthcoming." I've no idea what that evidence may be, but if Ross produces it before the end of the year, we will be paying him £1million said Hill's spokesman Graham Sharpe.

Ross Hemsworth is a business entrepreneur and owner of Glastonbury Radio (www.glastonburyradio.net), and is also a well known paranormal radio and TV presenter, scientific investigator of anomalous phenomena and an intriguing and entertaining speaker at events worldwide.

He has been hailed as a 'forward thinking visionary' and 'prolific investigator' and also promotes positive thinking and 'cosmic ordering' and making things happen rather than waiting for six numbers to make you rich in the lottery stakes!

He is also co-founder of The Phantom or Fraud Project. (Visit www.nowthatsweird.co.uk) As a successful speaker, and now author with his first book (The Dead ARE Talking) Ross tours the world promoting the growth of spirituality, and science's more open-minded approach to the paranormal.

He also has some intriguing views on inter-dimensional entities, what some people call aliens He will be compere and lead speaker at The Forbidden Knowledge Conference in Glastonbury on Saturday July 14th where he will also be signing copies of the limited first edition of his new book.

Ross announced today that he will be bringing together a number of the world's leading scientific investigators of the paranormal to form a team to work on this project, and will be splitting any winnings from the bet with them to help fund further research! Ross Hemsworth can be contacted at ross@glastonburyradio.net

New Buddhist temple opened in Kings Bromley, Staffordshire

The official opening of the Buddha Vihara Temple at Alrewas Road, Kings Bromley, Burton on Trent Staffs DE13 7HR will take place on Saturday 30th June at 2pm.

The ceremony will be attended by a broad cross section of dignitaries and representatives of many organisations together with members of the Thai Sangha (monks) from Thailand, Europe and the UK.

The Temple is in fact a historic local house just outside the village on land previously owned by Lord Lichfield. The Temple was previously based in inner city Birmingham and an appeal has been launched to help raise the £800,000 that was needed to purchase the new building.

The Temple draws supporters from Thai and English communities in many parts of England. It has strong support in the West Midlands, Birmingham, Coventry, East Midlands, Nottingham, Loughborough, Derby.

Support from other Midland areas includes Northampton, Peterborough. Cambridge, Oxford and Milton Keynes, in addition, in Yorkshire it has supporters from Huddersfield, and Leeds; from Bournemouth, Bristol and London/South of England together with Manchester and Liverpool in the North West.

Supporters number approx. 1500 people in the UK and Europe – which includes the Netherlands, Germany, France, Switzerland, Denmark and Norway.

Gett your butt out and start saving water!

The UK's Environment Agency estimate, as one example, that if we turn off the tap while brushing our teeth the individual saving would be approx 5 litres of water, and this assumes we brush our teeth for only an average of 1 minute. Not much you may think, but if every adult in the U.K. were to do the same, the saving would be 180 million litres a day, enough to supply nearly 500,000 homes!

Water... is anybody saving it ? We all know water conservation makes sense. So why aren't more people doing it ? That's the question the guys at greenandeasy.co.uk have been asking and they've come up with the answers.

The leading environmental portal is offering advice and information on simple, cost efficient ways for everyone to make the most of the wet stuff. "Water is fundamental to our eco-system supporting plant, animal and human life. As our climate changes then conservation of water is likely to become an area where we all need to get involved," explains green & easy's co-founder David Smethurst.

"The good news is there are a number of simple steps we can take as individuals to save water, in fact some may seem so straightforward it's easy to think they won't make much of a difference. However, the concept of 'one to the power of many' could have a very powerful effect when it comes to water conservation."

From always waiting until your dishwasher is full to toilet flushing practices, the website is overflowing with simple tips on how to save water. For those wishing to take things further, a system to recycle grey water in the home can cost less than £20 and a cistern water saving device is just £15.

Water butts are probably one of the easiest ways to harvest rainwater and will certainly pay for themselves many times over - your garden will also be thanking you!

"There is often the misconception that being green isn't easy, especially in our fast paced world," continues David. "I challenge that and I challenge people to start making a difference and being more environmentally friendly in their everyday lives. Water conservation is a great place to start. It isn't radical and it isn't difficult. It's green - and easy!"

www.greenandeasy.co.uk was launched in August 2006 to promote and sell environmentally friendly products and provide simple steps to greener living. Co-founders David and Jackie Smethurst can be contacted on 0845 2570550 (in the UK) or via mail@greenandeasy.co.uk.

My wife, myself, the barbecue and the racist abuse aimed at us

We had a fascinating day, yesterday. We had been invited to a barbecue with a couple we are or were, friendly with.

He arrived an hour after he said he would (he always does, so we were expecting him to be late) but for some reason she decided to start up on him. She really ripped in to him and whilst we were sat, shocked, in their back garden, they continued the argument indoors.

Within seconds it had degenerated into a nasty physical fight, with both of them trading blows. We were then subject to a quick bout of racist abuse from him (he is a Sikh and she is white) and he advised that he "did not want f**king neighbours interfering in his business," and advised us to "f**k off" and he went on to refer to us as "white f**kers". This was especially and deeply offensive to my wife as her family originated in India before moving to Wales, so his remark was well out of order.

So, not unnaturally, we left.

An hour later he was round at our house, apologising, and inviting us round for the bloody barbecue! But he was unaware that we had heard his racist abuse. Actually, his racist outburst at me was hurtful, but it was my wife I felt for mostly, as he is fully aware that my wife is very proud of her Indian heritage.

From the attitude of his wife and of himself afterwards (you know what I mean by that, I am sure) it became clear that the fight was nothing but a charade! It would seem that she starts a fight, hits him, then goads him into hitting her, then they make up by rutting like goats!

Now, if they have the kind of sick relationship that believes that domestic violence is a normal and healthy part of a sexual relationship, then all I can say is: "Sorry, kids! No can do!"

I firmly believe that if a couple want to bash seven bells out of each other as part of a "loving" (sic) relationship, then that is their concern. However, I deeply, deeply resent a pair of arseholes trying to drag us into their sordid little dirty fantasy world.

I also have issues with this kind of behaviour interfering with the way the police deal with genuine cases of spousal abuse. After all, if the neighbours had dialed 999 and asked for the police to come, they would have found a happy, smiling (though scratched and bruised) couple. The police would have gone away, irritated that their time had been wasted.

But the next time they attend a report of spousal abuse they might not react as diligently as they might, remembering what had happened the last time they had received such a call. And a real victim of spousal abuse could be lying on the kitchen floor, dead, with a carving knife sticking out of their back.

Our friends (well, former friends?) quite clearly need counselling to help them understand that their behaviour is not normal, not safe and certainly is not appropriate. However, as they both seem firmly convinced that their behaviour is normal, then all the counselling in the world will not help them, and counselling is not an option for either of them, I would have thought.

The woman in the relationship whined to us recently that they do not seem able to keep friends. She blames it on the fact that they have a mixed relationship and that he drinks a lot. After their disgusting display yesterday, we suddenly realised that, in all probability, we are just the last in a long line of friends to suddenly realise what a sick pair of sad deviants they are...

Anyone else have weird 'friends' that make you go: "huhhhh?"

Online Gothic and Alternative Gift Store Gets Makeover

This week, Online retailer Black Cats and Broomsticks has launched their newly updated website and is now available for visitors to see. The new site boasts new features such as Gothic and Biker Events calendar, a free to use links database for sites of the motorcycling, gothic, pagan, wiccan, and new age genre, a new online gallery featuring the famous Black Cat Collage where visitors can upload their pictures and make their moggy famous.

The site owners hope to add more features soon. The constantly expanding gothic and alternative gift section of the site now has a lot of new stock on it, which will please existing customers and first-timers alike.

Black Cats and Broomsticks ( www.blackcatsandbroomsticks.co.uk ) will be attending many events and shows over the summer to promote the new site. If there are any interested parties, such as Gothic Events or Motorcycle Rally organisers that would like to have Black Cats and Broomsticks at their event, they should contact the business through the website.

Throughout May 2007, new sign-ups to the store section that make a purchase during the month shall receive a free gift with their first order.

Scams, schemes and dreams

Utah, or so we are told, is the World Capital City of scams, schemes and dreams.

As I have asked before, WHY do so many Mormons get into MLM schemes or other direct selling schemes and try to sell Amway, Noni Juice, Nu Skin, Mary Kay, Nature’s Sunshine Products, Herbalife, Nutra-Smart, XanGo, Living Scriptures, 4Life Research, NSA, Pharmanex, Quixtar, Shaklee, Kirby, Unicity International, USANA Health Sciences, Inc., and the like?

Well, I blame the grandpappy of all Mormon propaganda films, Meet the Mormons. You have to be of a certain age to have seen this film, originally made for the World's Fair in 1960 something, because some utter arse allowed the Mormons to have a special Mormon Pavilion there.

The film was shown to all new 'prospects' (a term borrowed directly from the insurance sales industry, which shows just exactly HOW the Mormon church feels about people) and I would guess that it was a major factor in tricking my parents into joining.

"Do you want to be in Heaven with your family?" What kind of pondscum would say no to that question? You'd have to be an idiot NOT to agree with that, right? Right. And that's how they scammed people.

I was hoping to find it on Google or Youtube, but it is not there. Yet. Here is a link to a copy of the book that went with the film, on sale http://www.elephantbooks.com/item_list.asp?category=Religion+and+Inspiration%3AMormonism&major_id=72

The film helped prime people to be gullible. It helped to ensure that the Mormons grew up as ideal victims of scams, schemes and dreams. Ideal for plucking by fellow Mormons as desperate as themselves, or by fellow Mormons who were cynical and who were looking for other Mormons who they could fleece and rip-off.

Could YOU take the last $10 or £10 from a needy family with pie in the sky dreams of a multi-level marketing structure that was "just so right for them and their young, hungry family?"

Children who were not thriving because you can't thrive on TVP and other such crud? (Yes, we had to eat TVP. It was vile and tasted awful. Still, it was OK, because by mom and dad paid tithing and fast offering.

As a side point, we once had a Bishop who questioned the modest amount of our fast offering. My mother showed the SOB exactly how much money we had to spend on food, after we took 10% out of my father's meager wage. He was shocked by what we had to live on. Not shocked enough to offer us help you understand! But then that wasn't the Mormon way in Britain.

"Only the Saints in America enjoy the fruits of the Church Welfare Programme", as one pompous British Mormon pontificated one day.

I am tarting to ramble now, so I will finish here!

The Mormon PBS programme

Have you seen the Mormon PBS TV programme? As you can see by my extra 'm' and the 'e' in program, I am living in the U.K. and have not seeen the programme.

Could you please let me know what you thought of the programme? The best replies will be posted here.

The editor's decision, though biased and partial, will be final!